Karen Coen Flynn - Yale University

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parental need for income (Rwezaura 1998; Bledsoe 1990; Thompson 1971; Blanchet1996).xiiiEmploying girls under the age of 12 is illegal under the Tanzanian EmploymentOrdinance (TGNP 1993; Shaidi 1991). Yet there is a very fine line separating paidemployment from the regular domestic responsibilities of girls. This situation makes itdifficult for labor officers to prove that an arrangement is illegal, especially if both thehousegirl and the employing family can verify even distant kinship connections betweenthem (Sheikh-Hashim 1990). Anecdotal evidence suggests that some of the authoritiesappointed to enforce these child-labor laws illegally employ housegirls themselves.xiv Muhimbo Mdoe and Fred Nyiti were senior educators with Street Kids Internationalin Dar es Salaam.xv Acquiring accurate information from the girls about their sexuality was difficult. Fourof the 9 street girls described exchanging sex for food or money, although it was verylikely that all of them did (Mary Plummer, kuleana staff member, personalcommunication, February 28, 1994). Some might have felt uncomfortable discussing itgiven the stigma prostitution carried, others might not have identified their sexualencounters as a direct means through which they acquired food, and a few might not haveexchanged sex for food on a regular basis. Moreover, the girls may have lacked thelanguage with which to analyze what was happening to them in their sexual relationships.On the whole, however, sex was an integral part of their survival.27
xviIn Mwanza the plural form of rafiki was commonly pronounced without the prefix“ma” that distinguished the plural form marafiki (friends, boy/girlfriends) from thesingular form of the word rafiki (friend, boy/girlfriend) among other Swahili speakers inTanzania.xviiThe girls sex-for-food exchanges appeared to be a bitter twist on the exchanges ofmoney or gifts that are integral to many adult marriage and sexual relationships in Africaand elsewhere around the world, except these girls were forced into these exploitativerelationships at a much younger age, and neither gained economic advantage from theseexchanges nor fulfilled their culturally sanctioned roles as provisioners of food.xviiiThe girls’ dependency on sexual exchanges to acquire food also left them vulnerableto the physical and emotional difficulties of unplanned pregnancies, botched or backalleyabortions, miscarriages, premature deliveries and poorly spaced births. They alsosuffered repeatedly from beatings and rape. Not only were the girls’ physically immaturebodies more susceptible to sex-related injuries, but these injuries made them morevulnerable to HIV infection. All unprotected sexual activities made them susceptible tosexually transmitted diseases and as many as 20% of the young people living in Mwanzawere infected with HIV (Rajani and Kudrati 1994). These girls and their partners also hadlittle access to protective condoms, and when they did the girls lacked the negotiatingpower to encourage males to wear them.28
Page 1: Street Credit: The Cultural Politic
Page 5 and 6: African countries. The population o
Page 7: this study self-identified as a “
Page 10 and 11: work and raised me only by luck. Sh
Page 12 and 13: few shillings. But when they beg I
Page 14 and 15: move.In addition there is a long hi
Page 16 and 17: ability to command money or food in
Page 18 and 19: ut the girls had even fewer opportu
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Page 23 and 24: development. As demonstrated by eco
Page 25 and 26: pertaining to the historical partit
Page 27: x Several secondary-school graduate
Page 31 and 32: xxi In 1993-94 Tanzanians lacked an
Page 33 and 34: and Klaus Hurrelmann, eds. Social N
Page 35 and 36: Roots.” In Jeremy MacClancy, ed.
Page 37 and 38: ——— 1977. “Starvation and E

Karen Coen Flynn - Yale University

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